James Kirkup is The Telegraph's Executive Editor (Politics). He was previously the Telegraph's Political Editor and has worked at Westminster since 2001.

Ukip: an apology

The following statement has recently been issued by the Conservative Party:

In recent months and weeks, this party has made a number of statements and allegations about the United Kingdom Independent Party. We have suggested that Ukip was a collection of clowns, a party largely made up of fruitcakes, racists and other undesireables. We have suggested that a vote for Ukip denoted either a defective mind or an incoherent and childish anger at the world.

In the light of new information recently received, we now realise that those statements were wholly without merit or foundation and we withdraw them with immediate effect and undertake never to repeat them. Far from being a bunch of swivel-eyed nut-jobs, we now acknowledge that Ukip and its adherents are expressing legitimate concerns about various important aspects of public policy. Further, we undertake to listen to those concerns and act on them with speed and vigour.

We appreciate the distress and offence that that our earlier statements may have caused, and we apologise for them unreservedly. Sorry.

Of course, no such statement has actually been issued, and the Conservatives will never be quite so explicit. But already this morning, with only a few local results in, it's possible to detect a very different Conservative tone on Ukip.

People have sent a message, we get it, we hear what people are saying, people are concerned that we get on with the big issues facing hard-working people in this country, like fixing the economy, sorting out the welfare system, helping hard-working people to get on.

Ukip have done well, I don't make any secret about that at all. We need to make sure that we are addressing the concerns of the public.

That follows Justine Greening last night promising to "respect" the views of Ukip voters and Philip Hammond saying Ukip were raising important issues up the agenda.

The new Tory line-to-take sounds very much like the one set down by Boris Johnson in his Telegraph column this week, which told his Tory chums not to panic over Ukip but to embrace their rise as a sign of public desire for more Right-of-centre policies, on Europe, immigration, welfare and the rest.

In essence, the new Tory message to Ukip is this: We're listening, and what we're hearing is that you want is a more Conservative government, so we'll do more Conservative things.

Hence the idea of a new law in this Parliament to ensure an EU referendum in the next one. That idea is gaining credence, and even David Cameron is now considering it. Doubtless there'll be more such talk in the days ahead, suggestions that the Government should "listen" by doing more robust things on immigration, welfare and the rest. Never mind the fact that robust things like Mr Cameron's EU referendum pledge this year have not made the slightest difference to Ukip support.

The idea that a vote for Ukip is actually an endorsement of Conservative policies is curious. Yes, it's possible that some Ukip voters support the party because they're frustrated that a combination of Coalition and his own strategy choices have prevented Mr Cameron doing real Conservative things. If he started doing those things, they'd back his party again, right? I'm not so sure, not least because surely the best way for a voter who wants Conservative policies to get those policies is to put more Conservatives in office. The fact that some voters don't seem to believe that voting Conservative leads to Conservative outcomes suggests something rather deeper and more significant here, a fundamental problem of trust.

The same logic applies to the argument the Ukip is a protest against Coalition, economic hardship and the rest. The current party system offers voters a mechanism for registering discontent with the governing party/parties: it's called the Official Opposition, the Labour Party. The fact that some anti-Government voters don't believe that voting Labour is the best way to hurt the Government again points to a deeper problem.

If the Conservatives – or any of the main parties, come to that – are going to be reconciled with Ukip voters, they're going to have to do something more substantial than promising to "listen" and tweak a few of their own policies.